Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Broadmoor Hotel For Sale

Regular reader and poster Jim A emailed the following news. "FYI it looks like the Broadmore (sic) is for sale. ....the asking price is $7 million." It was built in 1925. This six story mixed use property is located @ 7600 N Bosworth in the Rogers Park Township. Taxes are 72,696 a year.

CORRECTION - According to Michael Luckenbach WBBM the radio station adopted the on air slogan "We Broadcast Broadmoor Music". They broadcasted live jazz from the hotel.

Property Information $6,999,950A "Grand Dame" from the Big Band Era. This legendary 97 unit building has been extensively renovated. All systems replaced, all apartments rehabbed, excellent management repositioning this asset in the market. Includes 50' X 125" parking lot. Unit mix consists of 7 stores, 40 studios, 30 x 1 bedrooms, 15 x 2 bedrooms, 5 x 3 bedrooms and 2 cellular leases. Contact agent for marketing package.Zillow says not for sale but was last sold for 1.25 million back in 2007. But Redfin confirms that the building is for sale and the listing has been active for the last seven days.

MCL is full of beans. The station traces its history to 1911, when Leslie and Ralph Atlass, owners of the Mallory Battery Company of Lincoln, Illinois began an amateur spark station. In 1924, it received a commercial license and was assigned the frequency of 1330 kHz. It also received its current call letters, which stand for World's Best Battery Maker. In later years, an alternate meaning, "We Broadcast Better Music," was created.

Hey, Tommy, I think you got some smarts. Those oldsters must a never looked it up. Looks like there's no agreement on that alternate name though--the one after World's Best Battery Maker. What a weird name for a radio station.

FYI, I never said that the station started in the Broadmoor. What I said was, that when they started broadcasting live dance bands from the Hotel Ballroom, they adopted the on air slogan, "We Broadcast Broadmoor Music". This was told to me in the mid 1970's by a woman in her 80's who lived in the Hotel and had for many, many years. Maybe she was "full of beans"!

BTW, didn't the current owner acccess 'special funding' to rehab the building for low-income/affordable rental units about 6-7 years ago and, if so, does that obligate a new owner to any long term ownership/management commitment?

Another interesting tidbit is that before moving to the Broadmoor in 1924, they broadcast out of the basement of 7421 N. Sheridan according to some factoids out of the Rogers Park Historical society books.